Double success for club's county league teams

Post date: Jan 25, 2016 3:08:11 PM

TWO LINCS CO-OP COUNTY league wins on successive days have given a real boost of confidence to the Stamford Men's Over 60s and B teams in their respective divisions.

Both have been propping up their First and Second division leagues but home wins against Skegness A for the seniors and against top of the table Long Sutton for Dennis Henshaw's second strings, has ensured that they go into the final games of the season with an injection of spirit in a bid to stave off relegation fears.

The Seniors picked up 16 vital points against the seasiders' first team in a 110-83 shots win in which captain Tony Freeman played his part on his favourite Rink 1 alongside Wally Kettle, Ray Harvey and Kevin Vinter. Their 29-14 win proved crucial.

Stamford B have struggled all season after winning promotion to the second division and were apprehensive about the visit of league leaders Long Sutton.

And with only a handful of ends to play and leading by 20 shots the tension started to kick in and shots started to be frittered away across all rinks.

However, despite Trevor Christie's quartet dropping a four on the last end to lose 21-22, Stamford B hung on with the final bell sounding to herald a 95-92 win and 14 vital points for their uphill campaign.

Results (Stamford names only):

Lincs Over 60s Division One: Stamford 110 (16 pts) Skegness A 83 (2). W Kettle, T Freeman, R Harvey, K Vinter won 29-14; A Chapman, D Veasey, D Heffernan, D Henshaw won 22-17; T Barwell, G Corby, M Owens, J Geary won 19-17; D Howarth, T Weaver, A March, Richard Martin won 16-14; A Romaine, R Graham, P Banks, A Horton lost 14-21.

Lincs Division Two: Stamford B 95 (14) Long Sutton 92 (4). T Barwell, N Graham, M Hebden, T Christie lost 21-22; D Howarth, D Heffernan, T Mackie, P Banks won 19-16; P Pheasant, M DeCamps, C Ballard, M Hewitt won 20-15; R Graham, A Horton, J Geary, M Owens won 20-14; D Veasey, D Bruce, P Linnell, D Henshaw lost 15-25.

Stamford's last survivors in the national women's events finally stumbled at the Area semi-final stage but not without a courageous fight against three of England's most talented players.

June Brennan, Glenys Edwards and Christine Ford were rightly fearful of their visit to Spalding to play Rebecca Simpson, Chelsea Tomlin and Annalisa Dunham, all of whom figure at international level.

But at 12-12 after 12 ends the local trio were in with a shout and playing the last end trailed by only four. They held a promising two shots before Dunham moved the jack to put the result beyond doubt at 20-14.

Tony Barwell made his debut for Lincs Over 60s against Warwickshire in the Midland Counties Senior League at Melton IBC and figured with Stamford colleagues Alan Romaine, Bob Warters and Peter Edwards in a 21-18 rink win.

Lincs won the match 128-115, claiming 18 of the 22 points available with wins on four of the six rinks.

Competing in the Lincs county pairs, Stephen Harris and Martyn Dolby lost a high quality match against Keiran Crane and Jordan Philpott 22-12.

Harris also featured alongside his sister Louise, James Hebden and Jay Travis-Jenner in a Lincs Under 18 league match against Spalding who included junior internationals Philpott and Ruby Hill as well Crane and Danielle Wild. Despite claiming four shots on the last end the Stamford youngsters lost 16-21.

Northants Federation competitions are reaching a crucial stage with several local players aiming to secure a place in the county finals due to be staged at Peterborough on March 15.

In the mixed triples, Adam Warrington, Martyn Dolby and Christine Ford are already through to the quarter finals after a tense win against Brian Bassam. With the scores level at 19-19 playing the last end, Ford wrested Bassam's shot out for the win and a tasty clash against Howard Shipp's trio at Peterborough for a place in the semi-finals.

In the women's pairs Glenys Edwards and Moira Holroyd bt Sheila Craig and Liz Hext, 18-17 at Peterborough to earn a semi final spot against the holders Jenny Harvey and Carol Hunter.

Shirley Suffling also beat Craig 21-15 in Senior singles to join club mate Ford in the semi-finals. In the men's equivalent, Peter Edwards beat Wilf Redhead 21-7.

In the two bowl triples, Warrington's beat clubmate Derek King 21-11, while Richard Montgomery lost to Mick Linnell 15-23.

Northants Bowling Federation players, including five from Stamford IBC, took a step nearer their goal of achieving a place in the final of the Derbyshire Inter-county Trophy with a 128-66 defeat of North Cambs at Peterborough IBC.

The 12 points they picked up from a possible 14 from this four-rink, two-bowl triples match, puts them top of the southern section table with 26 points, ahead of Lincs and Norfolk, who have games in hand, but still regretting that recent defeat at Lincoln, which could yet return to haunt them.

Captain James Harford made several changes in a bid to maximise the opportunity of playing the weakest team in the group but hadn't reckoned on the form of veteran Eric Clarke, Tony Read and the evergreen former Peterborough bowler Nigel Eagle, who caused an upset against Stephen Harris, Jonathan Earl and Tony Scarr.

The Stamford-based trio never recovered from conceding eight shots in the first three ends and five more on the 10th which put them 6-17 in arrears. They eventually lost by eight shots.

Elsewhere Joe Randall returned to the squad to skip John Holroyd and Nick Wilkie and after a shaky start in which they trailed 5-12 after 11 ends, two maximum six counts turned their match around and they ran out comfortable winners 36-18.

Harford, meanwhile joined Simon Law and Howard Shipp to run up a 44-9 scoreline, claiming 18 shots without reply in the last seven ends.

Brian Martin, Bob Warters and Tris Morton completed the rout against a North Cambs rink in which each of their players interchanged persistently, as the rules allow, in a bid to find a winning formula. However, despite picking up singles on four of the last five ends, North Cambs down 31-14.

In their final game, Northants play Norfolk at Acle on March 6.

Results (Northants names only):

Derbyshire Trophy ( at Peterborough): Northants 128 (12 pts) North Cambs 66 (2). J Holroyd, N Wilkie, J Randall won 36-18; S Harris, J Earl, T Scarr lost 17-25; H Shipp, J Harford, S Law won 44-9; B Martin, B Warters, T Morton won 31-14.